A Portrait of Roses
by Ai Enmaxjigoku shoujo
Summary: "Emotions are very strong entities Mary. Don't you ever forget that." Mary only wants more freedom - only wants to see the real world once more; and she will do anything to get what she wants.
1. A Picture of the Sky

**~Prologue~**

**A Picture of the Sky**

Mary hummed to herself as she scribbled in her notebook. Her tiny hands working furiously to fill in the picture of the sky she had just drawn. She wanted it to be perfect – wanted it to look just like one of Papa's works - wanted it to look just like the REAL sky – wanted it to look just like she remembered it…

* * *

_"Papa?_

"_Yes Mary?"_

"_Can you teach me how to draw?"_

"_I've already taught you darling."_

"_I know that… But I want… I want to be as good as you."_

"_Then practice - every day, just as I have done. And in a few years, you'll be as good as me."_

"_Years? But Papa, that's so far away!"_

"_Don't fret Mary. You've all the time in the world. Just be patient."_

"… _Okay."_

* * *

_Mary shoved a colored drawing into her father's face, who paused but a second to glance at the crude depiction of himself, his late wife, and Mary herself._

_ "Weeeelllll?" Mary asked as she rocked on her heels, "What do you think of it?"_

_ "It's good."_

_ "But it isn't good enough. I want to be better." The blonde pouted as she snatched her picture back from her father. _

_ "Patience dear… You have plenty of time to bloom into a fantastic artist." Guertena reminded, before patting his daughter on the head and shooing her out of his work station. _

_ Mary stomped out of the room, clearly not happy with the results of the conversation with her father._

_ "This isn't even good" she whined as she stared at her drawing once more, before ripping the page down the middle and discarding the two halves in the hallway and continuing to her room._

* * *

_Mary was sitting in the yard, admiring all of the beautiful roses that bloomed in the fenced off area of their garden. She and mommy used to water them together, but now that mommy was gone, the task was left to her. _

_She missed mommy and wished they could all be a happy family together again, but she was old enough to know that wasn't possible. She just wished Papa would be happier… like he used to be. Before, his art work used to be so up-beat and beautiful, but since mommy's death, his art had become more twisted and sinister. _

_She had come out here to work on a drawing of the sky and of the roses, but the few drawings she had done weren't very good, and weren't as good as Papas. She only wanted to be good like him so she could cheer him up and remind him what fun it was to draw happier things._

"_I know what will cheer Papa up!" Mary exclaimed as an idea struck her, "I'll make a bouquet of roses! Mommy used to always make bouquets!" _

_They had all the colors of roses you could think of in their garden. Mommy had worked really hard to get all of them, but there were three particular colors she wanted._

"_Red for mommy, because it's the color of her favorite dress" Mary sang as she clipped several of the red roses._

"_Yellow for me, cause it matches my hair" she clipped a couple yellow ones. _

"_And… I want one that reflects the mood Papa's been in… I want… Blue" she frowned to herself when she remembered they didn't have any blue roses, she supposed she could pick another color, but she really REALLY wanted blue ones. _

"_Well…" she sing-songed as she clipped several white roses, "I can always paint these ones blue!"_

* * *

_Mary knew her Papa was mad with her as soon as she saw his face._

"_MARY!" her father shouted as he snatched the tube of blue paint away from her, "What we're you thinking? This paint is very expensive, you know better than to play with it!"_

_Mary shrunk back into herself, her now unoccupied hands gripping the fabric of her dress, not liking that she was being scolded for trying to make her Papa happy - for trying to get his attention. _

"_I just… I just wanted to make you happy." She mumbled quietly._

"_And you thought wasting my paint would make me happy?"_

"_N-no Papa, it isn't like that! I was just trying to-" she tried defending herself, only to be cut off by her father._

"_No Mary, that's enough with your excuses. Go to your room."_

_Mary's eyes watered, "I don't wanna go to my room Papa. I just want-"_

"_Mary! Go to your room now. I think you need to sit in there by yourself and think about what you have done."_

"_By myself?" Mary gasped, tears now falling freely from her blue eyes, "No Papa! I don't want to be alone anymore! I just want you to be happy, so I can be happy! So we don't have to be alo-"_

"_That's enough!" her father roared, effectively frightening the young girl, "Go to your room!"_

"_I hate you!" Mary cried as she fled from the room, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"_

* * *

"_Mary!"_

_She could hear her father's worried call from her spot in the large tree she was hiding in, in the woods not too far from her home. _

_Normally when she was sad, she would go to the rose garden, but she knew once her father realized she wasn't in her room, that would be the first place he would look. So she opted instead to go hide in the woods, and she had scrambled into the largest tree she could find which over looked a large wild rose garden that lie nestled multiple feet below the overhanging cliff the forest occupied. _

"_Mary!" her father called again, "Mary I'm so sorry. I found the bouquet you made. I realize now that I should have just listened to you."_

_Mary froze as she heard her father's words, peeking her head out of all the leaves to spy her father._

"_It's lonely without you Mary. Please come home."_

"_Papa." Mary whispered, and Guertena looked up at the sound of her voice and spotted her._

"_Mary" he gaped, "How did you get up there? It's dangerous. Come down and we will go home. And you won't ever have to be alone ever again."_

"_Okay." Mary called, a smile gracing her features as she scrambled from her spot on one of the limbs to another, lower limb. _

"_I love you Papa. All I want is for us to be a happy family aga-" Mary's confession was cut short as she lost her grip on the limb she was hanging on and tumbled through the leaves and branches._

"_Mary!" Guertena yelled as he rushed forward at the sound of his daughter's terrified scream. _

_Mary stared at her father's desperate face as she fell; sure the same look of horror was mirrored on her own face as she realized she was not only falling out of the tree but also over the edge of the overhanging cliff._

_The last thing Mary saw was the oranges and purples from the evening sky before everything melted to black as she fell into the bed of roses below and into eternal sleep._

* * *

Mary frowned as she stared down at the crude coloring of the sky she still remembered so vividly.

"Papa was wrong," she mumbled as she discarded the picture and began on another one, "I didn't have all the time in the world to get better at drawing… And I'm alone, again."


	2. A Picture Frame Cage

**~Chapter One~**

**A Picture Frame Cage**

Mary was used to sitting by herself by now. But that didn't mean she liked it.

"It isn't fair." She whined as she watched all of the other paintings and sculptures be put on display, "Why don't they ever hang my picture up?"

It was that time again - the weekend the art museum she resided in displayed all of Papas, Guertena's art work. An exhibit of his work only happened once every couple years, something that she had grown used to over her time spent here.

Sometimes, her picture was displayed, but not often.

Mommy said it was because Mary's portrait was so beautiful and serene, and just didn't match the vibe of the rest of his work. His happier work wasn't appreciated. People these days seemed to like things dark and sinister.

"I don't belong here." Mary thought to herself as she watched the museum workers pick up the portrait of her mother, 'The Lady in Red'.

"I should be the one admiring all of Papa's art work. I don't want to have to be stuck here, forever."

* * *

It actually made her giggle out loud. The silly things these so called 'professors' wrote about her Papa's work. She was currently flipping through a book that supposedly depicted the meaning behind Guertena's work and most of them were so off point that it was laughable.

"It is said that the Lady in Red painting is based off of an old lover of Guertena's, but he has denied these claims. We believe it was a portrait of a woman who tried to court him for his inheritance" Mary read aloud, scoffing at how ludicrous the statement was.

"They've got it all wrong. Mommy was the one with the inheritance money, but Papa saw past the money…"

Mary continued flipping through the L section of the book before coming across the M section and quickly shutting the book, not bothering to read about the painting entitled 'Mary'. It was too painful of a memory…

"_Why aren't I displayed as much of the rest of the paintings Mommy? Is it because I don't fit the theme like his other popular works?"_

"_Well, it is a little bit of that. But also… You were Papa's last work of art. You're far too valuable to be displayed willy-nilly – you're so precious that the people here don't want to risk losing you."_

"I don't want to stay here. I want to be free. I wish I could be alive again."

* * *

Mary wandered the halls of the museum, or rather, the Fabricated World's museum. This place was special to her and the other works of art her father produced. This was their home, their place to be free… But it wasn't the freedom Mary wanted. She wanted to go to the real world and play with real children and have a garden of real roses. This place wasn't real, and Mary would do anything to be free of the frame that kept her trapped.

"_You're very special Mary."_

"_Why? How do you know?" Mary asked, intrigued by her mother's soothing words._

"_Well, take me for instance. I can only half way leave my portrait. But you Mary, you can leave yours entirely."_

"_But why can I Mommy?"_

"_Because, your Papa put the most emotion into your painting. And all of those emotions and all of that love made you a free spirit. You aren't bound like the rest of us. You have the power to wander the Fabricated World your Papa made for us."_

"_Then why can't you leave your frame Mommy? Why can you only crawl out half way?"_

"_Well. As you can see, I am a bit stronger than the rest of the paintings, as they can't leave their pictures at all. But you see, your Papa made me with not only love for me, but also sorrow for my death. But Papa had you still, so he didn't experience complete and utter heart break. But when you died, he had no one left. And so then he was able to experience true remorse and thus you are able to walk around freely. Emotions are very strong entities Mary. Don't you ever forget that."_

"Emotions are powerful huh?" Mary mused aloud as she came to stop in the empty hallway she was currently occupying, "And I am free to do as I please here in the Fabricated World?"

A wicked grin sprouted on Mary's face.

"Then… I want a cute doll!"

Almost instantly, a small blue doll with bright red eyes and black locks of hair rose from the floor. The shock caused Mary to stumble back before landing on her butt with a barely audible, "Oomph."

"Ah ha, did I frighten you Mary?" the doll asked and Mary nodded her head before hesitantly crawling towards the stationary doll.

"How did you get here?" Mary asked, ignoring the doll's question. The doll didn't seem to mind however as it instantly respond.

"Why, I'm here because Mary wished for it. And Mary gets everything she wants." It said, smiling with its red stitched mouth before clambering into Mary's lap.

"… Anything I want?"

* * *

"Look Mommy! Look what I have!" Mary practically screamed as she waved her new doll in her mother's face.

"Where did you get that Mary?" her mother asked curiously, tentatively reaching an arm out for the doll, which much to her surprise jumped into her arms, "Oh my!"

"I wished for it! And look, I can make more." Mary's words were instantly followed by more blue dolls popping up around the room, some with different colored dresses on.

"I don't understand…"

"It's just as you said Mommy! I'm a free spirit and emotions are powerful! Because I'm free in the Fabricated World, I can change anything and everything as I please!" Mary said, waving her hands about in her excitement.

"I see," her mother let the doll slip to the floor where it proceeded to climb up Mary's leg and into her arms, "I'm so proud of you sweetie. You must be so happy."

"I am happy… But there is one thing Mommy… I'm still not free from this place."

Her mom frowned, her eyes downcast for a moment, "So you still want to leave then?"

Mary nodded, a determined look set on her face, "Yes."

"Then I will help you in any way I can. We will figure this out together."

* * *

"That's why I can't leave?" Mary asked as she stared at the book in her mother's hands – it was entitled _Alchemy_.

"Yes. It is called Equivalent Exchange. You may be able to make dolls and other things here in the Fabricated World, but they are only paper and ink – materials that are infinite here in our world. But what you want is to become part of the Real World, which isn't made of paper like we are. So in order to gain a place in the Real World, you must first make room; by making a trade – a human sacrifice of sorts. You must find someone to take your place here and in exchange you get their place."

Mary was gaping by the end of her mother's explanation. It all seemed so complicated – practically impossible.

"B-but how will I be able to get someone here?"

"Well…" her mother thought, "I'm sure if you and I try hard enough we can open a path to the Fabricated World."

Mary smiled at her mother's words.

"And then all we will have to do is wait for some poor little fish to come along and take the bait!"


End file.
